Ranna
by Rampakslue
Summary: Nick always had a hard time fitting in, being one of the few members of his wesen kind. Being a wesen and being a Grimm did not help matters. He wanted to settle down, to forget about the blood on his hands. Nick had been looking for a quiet life, open a coffee shop, and an apothecary shop for Wesens. Perhaps coming to Portland was a mistake. ABANDONED.
1. What blew in with the East Wind

Chapter 1: What blew in with the wind

"Does the walker choose the path, or the path the walker?"

It was a quiet but windy night for Portland, Oregon. A strong East Wind blowing, but everything was peaceful, lacking any major incidents. The full moon was high in the sky watching over the night dwellers as they went about in their business. However, many wesen found the night to be too quiet, as if the world was holding its breath; the calm before the storm. Despite the general feeling of peace among the Kehrseite (humans), even they could feel the underlying current of unease blanketing the city. Would be miscreants and criminals decided that this night was not the night for their criminal activity, wesen parents tucked their children in and triple checked to make sure their kids were safe in bed.

John Oblinger was very nervous, yes indeed. He had just encountered another Grimm, yes, another Grimm. Not that the first Grimm was bad, no, she was good, very helpful. She had helped them earlier when the Hässlichen had started bullying them. But everyone knew about that Grimm. She was good Grimm, but this one… this new one was, well, new. He might be one of the traditional Grimms or even an Endezeichen Grimm. He really didn't want the Grimm to stay here, but what choice did he have, the Grimm wanted to buy that shop, how could he say no. He… He needed to tell the rest of the Lodge quickly so that they could be careful around this mysterious Grimm.

The Prince was lounging in a chair out on the balcony, reading a novel and enjoying glass of wine when he felt it. The uneasy presence that permeated throughout his canton. It was thick with power but held no clear intentions. He frowned as he tried to decipher what little he could about this new player. No matter, if this newcomer was a threat to the wesen he protected, he trusted that his Grimm would be able to handle it, although she was relatively new to this side of the world. If she needed help, he would make sure to provide the assistance she would need. The Prince closed his book and set it on the table next to him. He crossed the patio and opened the glass doors. As he was about to enter his dwelling, he paused and looked back out across the city. He had a feeling that things were going to become even more interesting than they were before. Whether it was a good thing or not, time would tell. He turned and headed back inside, closing the door behind him. He entered his bedroom and climbed into his bed.

The Mellifers gauged the newcomer's aura as he entered the city. They faintly detected that he was a Grimm, but there was something more underneath, a power they couldn't quite put their finger on. His intent was barely readable, but what little they could glimpse showed that he was not a threat to the city. Their new queen, the Mellischwuler, decided that there was no further action to bet taken, yet, but they would be watching, as they always do.

The Hexenbiests in the city all shivered as they felt the entrance of an enormously powerful being enter the city. They could tell that this newcomer was a very powerful individual. They found this mysterious creature instantly appealing. However, they could not help but be uneasy with this new presence. A feeling of danger and warning, that this newcomer was not one to be taken lightly. Those about to brew wicked Zaubertränke's decided that it could wait another day. There was just something off about this new presence, as if it was going to come after them during the dead of night and behead them. They made sure to strengthen their wards before they retired for the night.

Theresa Rubel, or Trubel as she was known as, had an uneasy feeling on this night. She didn't know what was causing her to feel uneasy, maybe she was just feeling a bit stressed after a long day. She shuddered as she thought of the things she had witnessed while investigating the Geiers and their horrifying actions. At least the two siblings and the others were fine for now. She should feel better after a good night's rest. After all, she probably had another long day tomorrow, knowing her luck.

Nick stood as he moved chairs, tables, racks, and various vials and jars of spices, tea leaves, and coffee beans around the shop. He had moved here to start a new life, away from the constant strife of Europe. His eyes glowing the color of liquid gold as he directed furniture and various appliances to their proper location. He put up decorations and monitored the paintbrushes as they painted the decently sized shop in a pleasant green color. When everything was done, and materials put away, Nick stood at the entrance as he took in his new store. It was perfect; this was the start of a new chapter of his life. One more thing before he headed to his new home to unpack. He stretched his arm out in front of him, with his palm facing the door. A brilliant and intricate Crest appeared in front of him. He cast defensive wards around his new establishment and charmed the less… human items in his store to be unnoticeable to the Kehrseite, regular humans. With that done, he pulled out a bell and lightly rang it. The next moment the shop was devoid of any life.

Everyone waited to see what would happen the next day, what surprise awaited them in the morning.

The city woke up the next day to find that nothing had changed, nothing except a new coffee shop that opened close to the Portland Police Department looking, for all intents and purposes, like it had always been there.

Nick opened the doors bright and early, at 6 am. He got the shiny new machines that he had bought ready for the day and put the pastries inside ovens. He doubted that he would get much Wesen customers at first. The landlord, an especially nervous Eisbiber, had probably told his wesen friends that he was a Grimm. Not that Nick cared much, though he did tell him to keep quiet. He really wasn't looking for a profit. He had enough blood money to live comfortably without working for the rest of his life. Yet, he was never one for just sitting around, and his other…usual activities were less than acceptable for his new life. So, he thought it might be interesting to set up shop as a coffee parlor inside of an apothecary where he would make and sell potion, ointments, medicines, and base ingredients for the Wesen and Kehrseite-Schlich-Kennen (humans who know).

All of his customers after he first opened shop were humans. Blissfully ignorant of the wesen world and of the dangerous assassin (former) who was serving them their hot macchiato's. Not that he would go back to his old ways, better leave old skeletons where they belong, buried deep several meters under the ground.

Nick didn't mind the current situation, even though business was slow, he could afford to bleed money. It wouldn't be too long before word spread that he brewed the best coffee in Portland. He was using the best blend of beans and ingredients after all, many of them exotic or hard to come across, not to mention much to expensive for a normal person to get their hands on. Then again, he isn't quite normal between special contacts and the fact that throwing money at suppliers tend to make acquiring ingredients simple. The wesen might take a bit of time to come around, however. Nick shrugged, it wasn't like he was in a hurry to make new wesen friends. If they could get used to an active Grimm in their city, they'll get used to a retired Grimm running an apothecary coffee shop.

Speaking of the other Grimm, he had looked into her and it seems that she was new at being a Grimm. Likely she's never even hear of wesen before last year. At least this meant that she wasn't one of those wesen hating, Grimm hunters. He'd run into several while in Europe and let's just say that their disagreements ended with there being less psycho Grimms in the world. Maybe he should help her, as a fellow Grimm. No, that sounded like too much trouble. He would assist her if she ever came knocking or if she was in a dire situation. Otherwise, he would focus on his coffee shop.

His intuition was correct as it wasn't long before his shop becomes very popular in the city. Expensive as the ingredients are to buy, they taste the best and he keeps his prices low, making his teas, coffees, and snacks a must have in Portland. The apothecary portion stayed relatively untouched as his human customers wouldn't be able to notice his wares thanks to the distraction charms he had placed on them.

His first time seeing the Portland Grimm was when she came in to order some coffee for herself and her friends. It seemed that she was a police officer, more specifically a detective, at the Portland PD. She introduced herself as Trubel. Nick had to consciously focus on not _woging_ while she introduced herself to him. She was a strong Grimm, though she didn't seem to be able to control her abilities particularly well. Probably depended a lot on her instincts rather than conscious skill. He watched as she ran out with a couple of Caffe Americano. Nick wondered how long it would be before she figured out that he was a fellow Grimm, albeit a retired one.

One of his first regular customer was a vet named Juliette. She often comes and orders a few drinks while she eats lunch. She usually reads books or people watches while she here. Sure, she was gorgeous, and any other hot-blooded male probably wouldn't have wasted another second asking her out, but Nick wasn't a regular guy. When he was still active in Europe, it was never a good idea to start a relationship, considering what he did for a living. Even now, after he's somewhat settled down, his inner wesen wasn't interested in bonding with a regular human.

Juliette walked into his store with a new customer. "Hey Nick! Can I have the Rose Tea today?" she asked him cheerfully. The dark-skinned man following her doesn't share her cheerful demeanor, but instead carries a confident attitude. His police uniform immediately makes Nick wary as he has some, less than dubious merchandise that aren't exactly completely legal among his wares. His supernatural merchandises are spelled sure, but they won't do much at preventing wesen from spotting them. He quickly checks the police officer and quickly breathes a sigh of relief as he confirmed that he was human. Not that he wouldn't be able to handle anyone, Nick just didn't like causing a scene.

"Oh right, Nick, let me introduce you to my friend Hank, he's a detective at Portland PD. He's always bringing in stray cats and dogs to my clinic. Don't let his mister tough guy attitude fool ya for a second, he's a huge softie." Juliette says as she introduces Hank.

"Juliette!" Hank exclaimed with a slight blush.

"Hey man, I only tell the truth." She replied with a mischievous smile.

Nick could tell that she was going to tease Hank further, so to spare him the social humiliation, Nick began to start brewing the tea. "So, will it also be Rose tea for you, or would you like something else?"

"I'll try this Rose Tea that Juliette's been talking about." Hank said. Nick gave a hum of confirmation and got back to brewing the tea. Not that he really had to, he always kept his brews ready made and delicious all day long with his magic. But better to keep up pretenses.

"So what brings you here to my shop Hank?" Nick asked.

"Ah, I came here with Juliette to keep her company during her lunch break. And to see the shop my partner's been frequenting the past week. She's been praising your shop, swearing that your coffees are Godly." Hank explained.

"Of course they are, I only use the best ingredients, whether they are available or not." Nick said with a wink. "Anyways, here are your drinks, enjoy!"

He watched as Juliette and Hank sat down at one of the tables and began to converse. He began to feel a bit wistful as he watched them interact. They were so comfortable with each other, poking and laughing at each other, like they've been friends for a long time. How he wished that he'd been able to make friends, it was just, hard to when there were people constantly after you, misguided thinking that they would successfully hunt the predator. Not to mention he had been the hunter himself before. Just like it was infeasible to have a relationship in his old line of work, it was difficult to make lasting friendships. The closest would have been acquaintances he had whenever he stayed in a place longer than a day. Well, that all in the past, he would have a chance to make friends now that he was here. Who knows, he might even find someone worth courting, someone powerful, someone who could be his equal.

A few hours later Nick served his last customer and contemplated what he would do today while he closed. He flicked his hands as the door locked and the sign switched to [CLOSED]. He knew that there was another apothecary in the city that was mostly geared towards wesen customers. He might as well check it out, see if they had items that were of any interests to him. What was the store name again? Right, Exotic Spice & Tea Shop. It shouldn't be that far of a run from here.

Rosalee was restocking some of the wares on the top shelf when she heard the door open and the bell ringing, signaling that she had a customer. She felt uneasy for some reason. "Hello!" She called out as she turned to greet her client when she saw that it was a Grimm. Not Trubel, the Grimm who had helped bring her brother's murderers to justice, no, this was an unknown Grimm, in her store. She shrieked and briefly _woged_ before she lost her footing and fell backwards towards the ground. She closed her eyes as she waited for the impact. She was so dead; the fall would hinder her enough to prevent her from running from this Grimm. She hoped that at least Monroe would be able to escape.

Nick sighed as the Fuchsbau freaked out at the sight of him. Really? He would have thought that the presence of another Grimm before him would have reduced the shock value, well more like fearful reaction, at the sight of a Grimm. He really should start trying to find a way to mask his inner Grimm from wesen. Only problem was that he didn't know how wesen could even tell that he was a Grimm, maybe his eyes, or his aura? He was brought out of his contemplation when he saw that she was losing her balance and was about to fall. He immediately directed his magic to stop her fall.

Monroe rushed upstairs as quickly as he could after he heard Rosalee scream. He desperately hoped that he would make it in time to help her. He kicked the door open and barged into the main floor and immediately halted as he took in the scene. Rosalee was suspended mid air laying on her back as if she had been falling. Across from her near the entrance was dark haired man with glowing eyes the color of molten gold with his hands stretched out towards Rosalee. And there was something else, something off… something unsettling about this guy. Wait he's a, "Grimm!" Monroe snarled as he _woged_ and prepared to leap at him.

Nick watched as a man barged through a door behind the counter. He had heard a second heartbeat in the building, so he knew that there had to be another person in the premise, but he did not expect a Blutbad to come rushing to the Fuchsbau's defense. He quickly held up his hands, palms out to show that he meant no harm. "Woah there, I'm not here to harm either one of you!" Nick said as he tried to placate the snarling Blutbad.

Rosalee opened her eyes as the pain she had been anticipating didn't materialize. She turned her head as she watched Monroe charge into the room and immediately _woge_ as he snarled at the Grimm. Said Grimm had his hands up as he attempted to placate Monroe. "Before you do anything, let me just set her down first," the Grimm said before he gestured at her. She felt herself slowly being tilted upright until she found herself on her feet. She turned to look at this mysterious stranger, who had caused her to fall off the ladder, but also had saved her from the fall…somehow. "What are you? I've never heard of a Grimm who could do the things you just did right now." Monroe unwoged as he stood next to her.

Monroe felt his face change back to normal as he stared at this Grimm who had just performed magic in front of him. He knew that Trubel wouldn't have been able to do what this Grimm had just done. Heck, he'd never heard of any Grimms who'd ever been able to perform the feat he had just witnessed. "First off, you're a Grimm, right? And you're definitely not here to hunt us, right? Please don't kill us." He asked as his adrenaline wore off.

Nick internally sighed as began to reassure the wesen that he wasn't here on a Hunt. Heck, he considered himself retired. "Yes, I'm a _retired_ Grimm and no, I'm not here on a Hunt. Besides, I only the bad ones and I doubt you both killed any innocents recently… have you?"

Rosalee and Monroe both shook their heads quickly as they both gave a sigh of relief. Another Grimm that was kind of like Trubel. This made them relax a bit, but they were still wary of this stranger.

Nick stood there as the two wesen stared at him in awkward silence. He decided he might as well break the silence. "So, I'm Nick. Nick Burkhardt, I moved here from Europe a couple of months ago. I'm the owner of the new coffee shop, Abhorsen Coffee and Etc. Have you heard of it?" He said as he held his hands out in a gesture of friendship.

Rosalee quickly shook herself out of her stupor and shook Nick's hand as she introduced herself. "Yea, I've heard of it. Heard that you sell the best coffee and teas in the city. My name's Rosalee Calvert. I'm the owner of this store. This is Monroe. He's here to help me reorganize some of the wares." Monroe shook Nick's hand after Rosalee as he said, "Nice to meet you."

Monroe shook Nick's hand as he was feeling a bit of déjà vu from his first meeting with Trubel. "So, if you're not here to kill us, what are you doing here? And how in the world did you do that levitation thing earlier?"

Nick quickly contemplated telling them the truth. It would help make friends for sure, but there were many things he didn't necessarily want to affect his new life. He decided he would only tell them what he was, they seemed trustworthy. "Well, as you know I'm a Grimm, but I'm also…"

*Ring Ring Ring*

"Uh, I gotta take this." Monroe said as he pulled out his phone. "Hey Trubel. I thought a vacation for you kinda meant, uh you know, a vacation for me too."

Nick raised an eyebrow as he heard their conversation. It would seem that Portland's baby Grimm had enlisted the help of this Blutbad, Monroe, to help her deal with the Wesen population. Smart girl. He wondered how their first encounter went.

"My Groin is fine, thank you." Monroe replied as now both Rosalee and Nick looked at him funny. 'I have yoga this morning' Monroe mouthed at them.

Nick's sensitive hearing could hear their conversation. "This is a weird one. Some sort of bird like creature. Big golden eyes, golden plumage" Wait, they couldn't be talking about Seltenvogel, can they?

"Woah, woah, woah. Is this a joke?" Monroe exclaimed. "That sounds like a Seltenvogel, if they weren't extinct."

"A Seltenvogel?" Rosalee asked Monroe incredulously.

"Sounds like it, yea."

"They aren't quite extinct you know, rare sure, but there are a few still out there." Nick interjected.

"Yea, I'm with Rosalee and… a _guest_. I was helping her out in the shop." Monroe talked into the phone as he looked at Nick.

Nick looked at him nonplussed. He heard Trubel say on the other end, "Is everything okay?"

"Yea, everything's fine. But let's get back to Seltenvogel…" Monroe began explaining information about Seltenvogel to Truble.

Nick left Monroe to his phone call while he began to browse the selection. He was keenly aware of the Blutbad and Fuchsbau's gaze on him. Huh, they had a lot of exotic tea leaves here. He might buy them to start selling them at his shop, maybe the Formosa Pearl Oolong?

"… Seltenvogel will produce this kinda, large glandular thing." Monroe trailed off.

"It's some golden egg thing, what was it called again…" Rosalee said as she started walking behind the counter to look for a book. "My brother should have a book on it."

"It's called an Unbezahlbar." Nick provided as he turned around with a bagful of tea leaves.

"Easy for you say," Monroe said as he frowned. "Our _guest_ says that it's called an…" Here Monroe just faced the phone at Nick.

"An Unbezahlbar." Nick repeated, "It's a dense mineral deposit which grows in the throat sac of a Seltenvogel once in their lifetime. It's kinda like an egg, once it gets too big, it needs to be… 'delivered', for a lack of a better term. It's incredibly valuable and if it is damaged during extraction, it becomes worthless."

Rosalee found the book and flipped to the page that had details of the Unbezahlbar. "Yea, everything he said is correct." She said as she looked at Nick strangely.

Nick couldn't help but preen a bit. Just a little bit mind you, he doesn't preen super obviously, thank you very much.

"She wants to know why they're so valuable, does the book say anything?" Monroe asked.

"Um, there's not that much information about that here," Rosalee said as she began skimming the pages.

"Well, they're unbelievably rare, for one thing. They're also made of pure gold. They're not only precious for the gold content, but because they can be used as an incredibly powerful catalyst for spells and potions." Nick said. Funny they should mention this. He himself had an Unbezahlbar in his possession. A gift from a thankful Seltenvogel he had saved back in Europe. It was incredibly useful for potion brewing, less for spell casting b/c He wasn't a Hexenbiest nor a Zauberbiest. A Hexenmeister had no need for a magic enhancer. Their Crests were all they needed.

"Oh man, this is the woman with the Klaustreich?" Monroe asked.

Nick frowned. He's had a few run in with Klaustreichs before. Their males were very charming… at first, but they are very aggressive and extremely treacherous. He could attest to that, one had tried to kill him in his sleep after a night together. He tuned out the rest of their conversation as Monroe mentioned something about a Klaustreich from his high school. He turned back to look at the tea leaves and grabbed some Star of China. These two teas should be a nice addition to his menu. He took these up to Rosalee and asked her to ring him up. He stood there as Rosalee began to total up his items. Monroe ended his call and walked over to the counter.

"That'll be $300." Rosalee said.

"Holy crap man, what are you buying?" Monroe exclaimed.

"Just some new tea leaves to make at my shop." Nick replied as he took the bag from Rosalee. "Thanks!"

"Anyways, I think both Rosalee and I would like an explanation. That is, if you would feel as kind to indulge us both. Totally up to you man." Monroe said as both he and Rosalee stared expectantly at Nick.

"You know who we both are, we'd like to know who you are. You're not just a Grimm, are you?" Rosalee asked.

Nick sighed. He might as well show them to gain their trust. That's what friends do, right? Trust each other? If he wanted them to be his friends, this might be a good way to start. He made sure that he had space around him before he _woged._

"Oh my God!" Monroe exclaimed.

Rosalee stood there in shock as she took in Nick's wings, six of them in fact, and his glowing golden eyes. The next moment his wings folded in and vanished while his eyes returned to their original gray color.

"You're… you're a Hexenmeister, aren't you?" Rosalee stammered, "I gotta have a book somewhere around here about you guys." She said as she started rummaging through counter.

"Rosalee, what are you doing? He's right here in front of us!" Monroe exclaimed as Rosalee stopped her search. "So… what, are you like some sort of wesen, Grimm hybrid?"

"I prefer the term Grimm Hexenbiest, but that works too." Nick replied.

"Yea man, whatever floats your boat." Monroe said.

"Just, don't go around spreading this information. I want to kinda stay low key here for as long as I can." Nick asked.

"Yea, sure man. We both can keep a secret, heh, right Rosalee?" Monroe asked.

"Yes, we'll keep quiet about your, heritage. Just, wow, I've never seen a Hexenmeister before." Rosalee said.

"Yea, your kind are like, Wesen royalty. Not like the Royals, but better, and wesen." Monroe said.

"Yea, thanks guys, I really appreciate it. Look, I gotta go, but if you need anything, here's my card," Nick said as he handed them both his information card. "I may be retired, but it doesn't mean that I can't help out your baby Grimm when she needs it." Nick decided that he was feeling a bit flamboyant at the moment. So, he took out Yrael and used his free hand to wave at the two. "See you around, come visit my shop sometime."

Rosalee watched as Nick rang the bell he had produced out of nowhere and vanish from her sight, as if he hadn't been there just a moment ago.

It took Monroe and Rosalee a few moments to break out of their stupor.

"Holy shit! We just met a real live Hexenmeister! And he had six wings, he's definitely one of the stronger ones." Monroe thought out loud as he began to walk back downstairs to bring up the boxes he had been packing.

Rosalee shook her head as she started to put up some of the jars again. There were two Grimm in the city now, albeit Nick claimed that he was retired. Either way, things were definitely going to be lively here in Portland.

Nick's first wesen customer showed up the next day. He was slightly suspicious at the large uptick in the amount of police officers that started showing up just a day after he met Hank. He had just served 8 officers coffee and biscuits. Yea, Hank definitely had something to do with this.

"Hey! You must be Nick, my name's Wu. Hank told me that you have the best…" Wu trailed off his introduction as he looked at Nick and Nick stared back at him. "Holy shit."


	2. In the Shadow of the Prince

Chapter 2: In the Shadow of the Prince

"Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey towards it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us."

"Holy shit." Wu exclaimed as he woged, "You're a fucking Grimm!"

"Shut up." Nick hissed at the Blutbad in front of him, "Do you want to cause a scene in front of the Kehrseite?" The police officers who had been nearby gave them a brief glance before returning to their drinks or browsing through Nick's merchandise. He had checked them all, none of them, save this buffoon of a wesen, were… well, wesen. He quickly cast a distraction charm to ensure that no one would be actively listening to their conversation.

"A Grimm… a freaking Grimm who's working in a coffee shop." Wu asked with a raised brow as he pulled out of his woge. "Doesn't that sound strange, even to you? I mean… I haven't received any reports of any ah~ special murders in the past few months, nor have I heard of wesen disappearing in the night. So, tell me, what is a Grimm doing here?" Wu says as leans on the counter with his trademark obnoxious grin.

Nick narrows his eyes as he glares at this obnoxious wesen. Really, why can't this wesen be terrified of him like most other wesen. Maybe he should release a bit of his Grimm aura to scare him off… no, it would only make his presence in the city even more obvious and he's trying to stay low key… for now. So, he resigns to only glaring at Wu even harder. And harder. And harder…. Does this guy not know when to take a hint? Either he's being purposely dense… or he's really thick headed. Wu's stare isn't intimidating, even though it looked as if he was trying his best to intimidate him. Ha! A wesen intimidating a Grimm, he'd like to see the day that happens. No, this Blutbad in front of him is just an idiotic wesen without an ounce of self-preservation inside his foolish head.

A line started forming behind Wu as Nick kept glaring at Wu while the wesen just wiggled his eyebrows…. He didn't seem to care about the line forming behind him.

"Fine, I'm here to get as far away from Europe as possible… and I've always wanted to open a coffee shop, so here I am." Nick growled, giving in. Might as well answer his questions quickly and get this annoyance out of his hair. "Now, what do you want to drink."

"Huh…" Wu trailed as he straightened. "I would like the passion fruit tea." Nick glared at him while he rang him up and got him his tea. "Here you go," Nick said as he all but shoved the tea into Wu's hand. "Have a nice day," He said with a very fake smile in his face. If Wu decided to become a regular, and he had a feeling that he would be, his day would become a bit more annoying. Though, the man wasn't as annoying as he was trying to convince himself that he was. His icy demeanor did nothing to wipe the obnoxious smile off of Wu's face as he waved cheerfully at Nick as he joined Hank and Juliette. Nick sighed as he served the next customer in line. Still, he would take Wu over many of the other Grimms he had met in Europe. Maybe having the police as his regular customers might not be a bad thing after all. He might even break even and stop bleeding cash. He may not need to earn money, but he didn't like losing money.

It was like a switch had be flipped. As if the sign had turned from [DANGER GRIMM!] to [GRIMM, but probably not going to kill you]. After his first encounter with Wu, the rest of the wesen community seems to have decided that Nick was safe. He didn't know whether to be amused that they thought he would have killed a police officer, though he was a wesen, in broad daylight in front of other police officers or insulted that they thought he couldn't kill a bad wesen, even if that wesen was a police officer, and get away with it. Because he totally could, no would be able to trace a crime to him, if he wanted to. He was slightly appalled by this city's lack of caution. Just because they were friends with the baby Grimm and were under the protection of a Prince, most probably didn't consciously realize it, didn't mean they should throw caution to the wind. Maybe he should scare them a bit to keep them on their toes… no, that would go against his 'stay low-key, for now' resolution. Besides…he didn't want to alienate them as it would make it harder for him to claim this city as his territory as a Hexenmeister. The Prince would just have to learn to share.

Maybe the wesen weren't as reckless as he thought. Other than wesen police officers, most wesen just passed by his shop or loitered around without actually entered the shop and buying something. There seemed to be a lot of wesen in Portland PD, was the Prince purposefully picking wesen as police officers? Anyways, every time he would stare at an offending wesen, they would give a small squeak before rushing away. Like this wesen, Nick was cleaning some of the tables when he felt someone staring at him, so he looked up and directed his gaze towards a wesen staring at him. Said wesen jump in surprise and fell on the ground. He picked himself up and scurried out of sight. Nick sighed… man these wesen were bad at being discrete.

Nick tries really hard not to get too irritated by them. After all, these gawkers were a lot better than the others, they at least stayed outside his store. There were others who would walk in, pretend to browse his merchandise, with painfully obvious stares in his direction, and then just flee when he would ask them if they were actually going to buy something. Now, they were actually getting on his nerves. And then there's Wu… who's always smiling at him with his obnoxious grin.

"I hold you personally accountable." Nick growled as he slammed a cup of coffee on the table where Wu was sitting and took a chair and sat across from the infuriating wesen. His poor chair creaked at the force of his anger, the chair didn't deserve this treatment. He would fix the chair later.

Wu just blinks at him with an eye brow raised as he took a drink of the coffee. "I mean, you told me that you were retired, right?"

Nick sighed. "I…never said that." He wasn't expecting Wu to stare at him with surprisingly sharp eyes with his skin rippling as if he was about to woge.

"Oh, are you not retired then? You know the protocol, or at least I assume you do. Active Grimms report their presence to the Royal of the protectorate." Wu said.

Nick sighed. Of course he knew the protocol…not that he followed it much. Wasn't like they were keen on threatening him, knowing who he was. And those who didn't know who he was, well, they learned real quick to leave him alone. He leaned forward, hands folded on the table. "Yes, I know what the Protocol is." He quickly cast another distraction charm around them, he wondered if this was going to be a regular occurrence while talking with Wu. "I'm not active, haven't been for half a year and I intend to stay that way. Besides, if I was active, you wouldn't have been surprised about a Grimm owning a coffee shop, especially since your Captain is…"

"Wait, you know that?" Wu said surprised.

"What, you think I wouldn't research everything about the city before moving here? Dealing with pompous Royals is annoying enough, dealing with an annoying, territorial Guardian is just an aneurysm waiting to happen. Know the Royal, avoid the Royal, spare the pain is my motto. Or was, I should say." Nick frowned, why was he telling all of this to Wu anyways. "That's besides the point. Like you mentioned earlier, I am retired. Why'd you go tell half the wesen population to come gawk at me like I'm a…" He was about to say Grimm but realized that it wouldn't make it a metaphor… "an exotic animal at a zoo."

Wu had the gall to chuckle at his misfortune and takes a sip of his coffee as Nick glowered at him. "I didn't do anything. All I did was report your presence to the Guardian after our meeting. And you know wesens, how much we gossip. The wesen officers must have overheard me talking with the Captain. A retired Grimm, not something you hear about often."

"Yea… because most Grimms tend to keep doing our, ah, family business until they die. Whether that is through old age, rare I might tell you, killed by Reapers, or by the very wesen they Hunt." Nick muttered as he stood up. "Well, why don't you get overheard by the gossiping wesen officers that this retired Grimm doesn't appreciate the loitering much and if they don't at least buy something, I'm gonna bar them from the shop."

"How would you even pull that off? You'd need thousands of different ingredients for each individual species." Wu said as he frowned. Then he looked at Nick with his sly eyes, "Unless you have a Hexenbiest on your side. Or a Zauberbiest." Wu asked with his exasperating smile. Nick was willing to bet his bottom wings that Wu thought this conversation was a joke…. or at least he was treating it like one.

"I don't need a God damn…" Nick stopped as he realized something. He looked at Wu suspiciously, "You're going to turn around and parrot our conversation back to your Prince, aren't you?" He turned around and walked back behind his counter. Thank God all of the customers had already cleared out by now. He decided that now would be a good time to close.

Wu tapped his index finger on his nose as smiled, "Quick on the uptake I see. You know, you wouldn't make a bad detective, if you wanted to." Wu finished his drink as he shrugged at Nick's baleful look. "Now, don't look at me like that! He's our Regnant, he has a right to know about all possible threats in and around the city. I'm just doing my obligation here." Wu said defensively.

"Oh good, at least someone has brains in this city…for a while, I thought you wesen had lost all sense of self preservation." Sure, he had thought about becoming a cop once. It would have let him gather information much easier. But it required him to settle down to one city, and he hadn't yet decided which city he wanted to claim yet. Besides, his main source of income probably wouldn't sit well with any precinct, no matter how good of a detective he could have been, being a Grimm. Killing people for money, no matter how evil they were (and he did only accept requests for those who were truly deplorable), never seemed to sit well with everyday humans. As for hunting, he only hunted those who murdered in cold blood. Nick watched Wu as he started chewing on a pen…eventually swallowing the whole damn thing, was there something wrong with him, Nick wondered.

Wu laughed as he stood to return his cup to Nick. "Ahah, it's because most of us have never seen a Grimm, much less a second one." Wu gave Nick a serious stare. "There's not much information about you Burkhardt. Born in California, parents moved to Germany a year after you were born, both parents passed away when you were 12 years old and then nothing. Until a few months ago, when a Nick Burkhardt, that's you by the way," Wu said teasingly, "moved to Portland and set up shop, a coffee shop. What have you been up to between those 18 years?" Wu grinned as he leaned on the counter, watching Nick with interested eyes.

"Hmmm," Nick hummed as he gave the appearance of cleaning, "Well, I was abducted by aliens and experimented on turning me into an alien-human hybrid." Nick said seriously as he snatched the mug out of Wu's hand and proceeded to wash it before Wu could think about chewing on his china. Nick saw Wu glace at the empty cup a couple of times.

"Wait really?" Wu said incredulously.

Nick rolled his eyes, "No, you think I'm going to tell some meddling wesen police officer my entire life story to report back to his superior? You're gonna have to dig for my past the hard way." Nick said as he turned around to face Wu.

Wu looked like it had taken him a few moments to realize that his cup was gone. He suddenly felt uneasy about this conversation, the same uneasy feeling he had felt a few months ago, on one windy evening. "So, by sleeping with you?" Wu half heartedly joked as he tried to calm his nerve, why was he getting nervous anyways? Wu watched as Nick gives him a predatory look over, as if he was prey being analyzed.

Nick knew that Wu was only joking, but he gave that offer a serious thought. Wu wasn't that bad looking, and he was a wesen. No, Nick decided, his own wesen wouldn't settle for someone who couldn't be his equal, and Wu looked like he was halfway to fainting.

Wu shivers as Nick gives him one more look over before Nick laughs then deadpans. "No, relax Wu, I'm not going to kill you. You've grown on me."

Wu gave him a tentative smile.

"Like a parasite." Nick finished with a smirk.

Wu laughed at that. "Yea, yea, make fun of me all you want. I'm gonna find all of you're secrets one way or another."

"You do that, no shoo! I have a store to close." Nick watches Wu walk towards the door. Wu was about to leave when Nick called out, "Seriously though, I wasn't kidding when I said to tell the community to stop gawking at me. I will resort to warding my store if I have to."

"Gotcha Mr. mysterious secret I won't tell!" with that Wu slipped out of the store. Nick shakes his head as he wonders how what he's ever going to do with that infuriatingly endearing Blutbad. He motions his hand towards the entrance as the door locks and the sign changes from open to closed. The curtains draw themselves while the broom and rags begin cleaning the store. Nick smile, maybe, just maybe, having that wesen as a friend wouldn't be as bad as he initially thought.

Renard was enjoying his dinner when he felt the presence again. That intoxicating feeling entwined by an undercurrent of exhilarating fear. At first, he had thought it was the new Grimm one of his officers, Wu, had informed him about. However, that theory was discounted as he didn't know of any Grimms, no matter how strong and experienced they were, feel this powerful. He was sure of it, there was an immensely powerful being in his territory. He always felt this mysterious being at night, as if he or she was coming home. And their home was somewhere close to his…the Regnant growled. They were mocking him, or at least showing him that they didn't fear him, respect him enough to introduce themselves to the ruling Guardian of the canton. He slammed his fork on the table and stood up from the table. He stalked out onto his terrace and stood at the edge, directing his gaze around the city, HIS city. How dare someone challenge him, insult him, a Royal, in his own city. Who dared have the gall to… Renard trailed off as his gaze was drawn to a figure standing on his own terrace, in a penthouse that was across his condo on the other side of the street. He looked up at this mysterious figure as he attempted to discern why he was so drawn to his being. It was him, this person was the new enigma in his city. The source of his uneasy feeling. He watched as the man turn around and head back inside his own home. He was going to have to look into this. Now that he knew where the being lived and how he looked like, he could finally start properly investigating the mystery behind this enigma. He grinned a smile that was all teeth, he would have his answers soon, and correct the slight he was handed, and he would claim that man as his…. Wait, Renard frowned as he tried to figure out where that thought had come from. No… there was no way, his inner Regnant was attracted to the new comer… could he be?

Nick gave a hum of content as he watched the city below him. He always loved heights and the exhilarating feel it gave him when he watched the world below him, especially as he was flying. But, there was no opportunity to fly here, not yet at least, but it would come. He could feel the gaze of the Guardian from the opposite side of the street, from a patio that was slightly below him. Nick smiled, some would call it foolhardy to live so close to the ruling Prince of a canton without announcing themselves, but Nick had lost all fear of Royals long ago. They were more of an annoyance rather than a hinderance, but they could be major headaches when they wanted to. However, if he wanted to claim this city as his, he needed to stay near the center of the city to allow his power to permeate outwards, so here he was. Besides, the Prince will have to get used to his presence sooner or later, Nick was rather liking this city. As Nick turned around to enter his penthouse he mused about when he would introduce himself to the Prince. Maybe in a few weeks, or month. Who know, he'll just play by ear for now.

Nick sighed as another wesen walked into his store, only to stare at him for half an hour, then quickly grab a random item and rush to the counter to buy whatever they grabbed and rush out. He should have known that the wesen would take the 'stop gawking without buying' way too seriously. He already had a couple Fuchsbaus stop by, a few Klaustreichs (God he wanted to punch their faces), and he even had two Mauzhertz stop by. Though he worried about the two Mauzhertz as he heard their heart beat at rates that could not be healthy and made him wonder whether he would have two heart attack victims in his store.

Though, at least now they bought things instead of just standing outside disrupting traffic. Instead, they sat at one of his tables for an hour or two before scurrying away. He liked the Mauzhertz the best, they had just bought their items and ran out immediately, bless their poor hearts.

"So, you're the new Grimm,"

Nick turned around to see a man staring at him. His eyes flashed black as he forced the stranger to woge. "And you're a Coyotl without his pack." Nick said in the same tone. He has to remind himself that he shouldn't stab a customer in broad daylight in his store. He had heard that same exact line more than a couple times this entire morning. He clenches his hand to prevent himself from grabbing a nearby knife. He turns back to the sink and scrubs the dishes he was washing a tad bit harder. He might have to hire someone to help him if the Wesen community kept dropping in like this. They all took the buy something to stare at the new Grimm, way too seriously.

"Yeah…not all of us agree with pack ideals and the Prince does a good job protecting us, so we don't necessarily have to rely on Pack for security." The Coyotl says.

There is a long pause during which Nick managed to finish cleaning all of the dishes. He might have cheated a little, but who was going to notice him using magic?

Finally drawing the courage to ask him the million-dollar question, the Coyotl asked him, "Are you really retired?" leaning forward, curiosity in his eyes. Nick notices how at that question every Wesen in the store perked up and glance over at him. Nick sighed as he could literally taste the anticipation in the air.

Nick stared intensely back at the wesen as he replied, "Yes."

The Coyotl releases a quiet yelp as he shivered. He blushes as he watches Nick warily.

"Now, are you going to buy something? Or did you just come here to ask me questions and waste my time?" Maybe he should have kept his word and cast a barrier to bar wesen from his shop. But then again, he was already insulting the Prince by not introducing himself to him, he might not tolerate actually barring his people from his store, even though it was his…

When Nick doesn't make any threatening moves, the Coyotl relaxes. "Uh, yeah. Um, what's your most popular tea? My name's Jarold by the way." He says somewhat cheerfully.

Nick raises an eyebrow, but he dismisses it. "Well, favorites. Anise tea is pretty popular right now, though Rose tea and Green tea are always consistently chosen." Juliette always seemed to like the Rose tea while Hank preferred black coffee with a pinch of sugar, some milk, and a generous helping of honey. He smiles as he thinks about them. They were slowly becoming his friends here in the new city. Their constant teasing and stimulating conversations had really grown on him. He wondered where Hank was, he hadn't seen him for a few days. Recently it had just been him and Juliette, with whom he always felt at ease. She had a naturally calming yet somehow still quite energetic feel to her.

All the wesen in his store seemed shocked at his smile. Wow, it was as if these wesen had never seen a Grimm smile before. Well, actually that probably wasn't that far from the truth.

Jarold had paled a bit as he quickly stammers out, "Um… right. Uh, can I have the mint please? Togo."

What had he done to scare them? Nick looked around the shop at several pale faced wesen. Mmm, this was no good, he needed them to like him, not be afraid of him. Hopefully the community would warm up to him by the time he's ready to declare this city as his Center, his territory. Maybe he shouldn't smile at all.

It was a few hours later when he was closing shop when he got a phone call from… right, Rosalee.

"Burkhardt"

"Hey, Nick? Um, I'm sorry for bothering you, but we really have an emergency right now. We found out that a Hexenbiest had made a Zaubertrank, La mort pour l'amour, which is affecting both Hank and Wu right now." Rosalee sounded really frantic as she was explaining the situation to him. Nick frowned, Zaubertränke 23, that was a nasty spell and made total sense why Wu was eating inedible objects earlier.

Monroe took the phone from Rosalee, "We made an antidote for it and administered it to Wu, but it's not working! We don't know what else to do right now. Trubel is freaking out."

Nick sighed, so much for staying low key. Oh well, helping the baby Grimm might help him gain the respect of the community. "Okay, just stay there, I'll be there in just a second," Nick quickly waved his hand to close his shop and then plucked Yrael out of the air.

"Well hurry, we don't know how much more time…" Monroe jumped as Nick appeared right in front of him. "Holy shit man, what the fuck?" Monroe closed the phone and pocketed it.

"Nick?" Trubel stammered. What was he doing here, wasn't he just the owner of her favorite coffee shop? How'd he even appear out of nowhere like that? Was he a wesen? She tried to see his true nature but couldn't get him to woge in front of her. She would contemplate this later, right now saving her friend and then her partner was more important.

Rosalee and Trubel looked shocked as Nick waved at them before adopting a serious demeanor and walking over to Wu. "Can I see the nez-soufflet?"

"Yea," Trubel said as she handed it to him. Nick examined it with his magic as he tried to find out what was wrong. The antidote felt right to him, in fact, it was masterfully brewed. Maybe the problem was, ah, the problem was Wu. Whoever created the Zaubertränke was decently powerful, Rosalee did mention that there was a Hexenbiest involved. Wu groaned on the couch near him.

"The problem here isn't that the antidote is bad, in fact whoever brewed this is a master apothecarist." Nick noticed a slight blush in Rosalee's face. "However, the simple fact is that the brewer of the Zaubertränke 23 had more power, thus preventing the antidote from working properly."

"Is there anyway to get it to work then? We still have to go save Hank." Trubel stated.

Nick nodded as he held the nez-soufflet up to his nose and gave it a squeeze. Immediately Wu arched his back and Trubel and Monroe moved forward. There was a tense moment as they waited for the antidote to counter the curse. Wu's face turned red as he woged. Then he returned back to human and collapsed.

"Was that supposed to happen?" Monroe asked.

"Yes, he's completely cured now," Nick confirmed.

"What? Where? Who?" Wu muttered as he came to. He woke up to Monroe, Rosalee, Trubel, and Nick standing around him. He didn't have time to think about that when he suddenly had to go use the restroom.

"We don't have much time," Trubel said, "We need to get to Hank quickly."

They were running out the door to get to their vehicles when Monroe said, "Hey, couldn't you do your magic voodoo stuff to get us…" Nick glared at him, "Okay, maybe not. Old fashioned way it is."

Trubel was a bit confused at that statement. Magic voodoo stuff? Was Nick a Hexenbiest?

Back at the apartment Wu walked into the living room, his head still a bit clouded. He remembered waking up to see, "Nick? Are you there?"

When they walked up to Hank's residence they discovered the door was opened. Quickly they rushed inside.

"Hey Hank?" Trubel called out. "Hank? It's Trubel." She led the way into his house with Rosalee, Monroe, and Nick trailing after her. There was an eerie silence in the house that brought unease to the Fuchsbau and Blutbad. Trubel barged into Hank's bedroom with her gun out to find that Hank appeared to be sleeping in his bed. Quickly Rosalee went over to Hank's side to take his vitals. "Are we too late?" Trubel asked.

"He's still alive," Rosalee said as Monroe and Trubel both breathed a sigh of relief.

"But why is he unconscious?" Trubel said as she swept over to the other side of the bed, leaning forwards over Hank.

Nick frowned as he could tell that the curse had proceeded to its final stages, the antidote was useless now.

Rosalee checked Hank's eyes by sliding his eyelid up to see Hank's ruby red Iris. "Oh my God," Rosalee said standing up, "She altered the Zaubertränke." She grabbed her book from Monroe, "Hank is still alive but the antidote, it's useless now."

"But it worked on Wu!" Monroe said.

"The Hexenbiest didn't have sex with him," Nick deduced. He frowned. There was only two ways to counter the curse now. Either kill the original caster or…

Trubel tried shaking Hank, "Hank, Hank, come 'on, wake up man!"

Rosalee shook her head, "Trubel, he can't. It's like he's in a coma right now. Not a physical coma, but more of a mental, psychological coma. His brain is locked."

Trubel looked tired, "Well, there's gotta be a way to fix this."

"The only way you can break a blood Zaubertränke is by killing the Hexenbiest whose blood is in it." Rosalee said.

"But… that would take too long, she could be anywhere right now!" Monroe exclaimed.

"No, not the only way." Nick said, stepping forward.

"Ring Ring, Ring Ring."

Trubel answered the phone. "Hello?"

Nick could hear the conversation as the lady, no doubt the Hexenbiest, demanded that Trubel meet her at some ruins to hand over a key, that Trubel's aunt had given her. He watched as Trubel's facial expression got grimmer and grimmer as the conversation went on.

Trubel ended the call as she put her cell in her pocket. "She's at the Bremen Ruins. She wants the key in exchange for Hank's life."

"That doesn't matter though, Nick here said that he knew another way to break the curse, right?" Monroe said hopefully.

Nick nodded as he stood next to Hank. "Go, I can tell you still want to meet with this Hexenbiest to take revenge for her actions on your partner. I'll catch up with you later."

Trubel nodded as she, Rosalee, and Monroe rushed out of the house. "Thank you so much!"

Nick sighed as he brought out Ranna. His smallest and sweetest sounding bell. The first bell he had in his possession and one he cherished, having been given to him by his mother.

Oh Hank…so this was the reason why you hadn't been around the past few days. Nick wouldn't admit it out loud to anyone, but he considered Hank one of his friends now.

Nick began to slowly swing the bell side to side, as the clapper hit the side of the silver body. A sweet ringing began to fill the room. He watched as Ranna forced the curse on Hank to submit to his will, and his will was for it to begone. As soon as the curse was lifted, Nick let go of Ranna, returning her to her stand.

Hank would be fine in the morning. He would be a bit groggy and confused, but otherwise fine. Now, to go help the baby Grimm and her wesen companions. He grinned, he had a feeling that it was going to be a huge fight, and if he had examined the Zaubertränke correctly, he was going to meet an old… ah~ acquaintance and she was not going to be happy to see him. He woged as his wings burst into existence. His eyes glowed as he vanished into think air. And as if it were an afterthought, Hank's front door closed and locked on its own.

Renard took a sharp breath as suddenly he was overwhelmed by the mysterious aura that he was still frustratingly finding no lead into. When usually the aura would feel suppressed, this time it was let out, as if he wanted someone to know that he was here. There was something going on in his city, and the Guardian didn't like not knowing… he was frustrated at the thought that he couldn't properly protect his people. But somehow, the presence didn't seem threatening to him, instead it felt as if…kindred spirits, powerful, unyielding, his equal, that was the only explanation for how his inner Regnant was reacting to his presence. But there was something else, something bothering him. He had felt this presence once before, while in Europe…Shit. It couldn't be.

Trubel was fighting the Hexenbiest to her best efforts, which was hard, as she still was new to being a Grimm, so she didn't know how to properly fight against a Hexenbiest. Monroe and Rosalee were trying their best to keep the reapers from interfering with Trubel's fight, but they were getting tired. That was when everyone froze.

Rosalee felt a chill run down her spine as she felt the coldest presence she had ever felt. She heard flapping sounds and watched as everyone around her, including the Hexenbiest stare at the figure with wings, that had to be Nick, fly down from the sky. His shining gold eyes a sharp contrast to his onyx wings with his oppressive aura, was one of the scariest things she had ever witnessed.

Trubel watched as Nick descended from the sky. What kind of Wesen was he?

Everything was silent but for the sound of Nick hovering just a few inches off the ground.

"YOU!" came a shriek from the Hexenbiest.

"Hello Mellisa, how've you been?"

 **A/N: So, how was chapter 2? I didn't really feel like studying, so I wrote this instead. Haha. Anyways, I've also been inspired by the Fate Lines series by Macx so check that series out! Archiveofourown series/16528 and don't forget to leave a review!**


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